Foreword

The Anyang excavation was，from its inception，directed toward the recovery of the early written history of China．It was never conceived as a search for works of art or buried treasure．Hence the story of Anyang properly begins with the discovery that“dragon bones”were inscribed with archaic Chinese characters．Dr．Li Chi therefore describes the various accounts of how this discovery was made and introduces us to the principal characters of the drama．Once it was recognized that the so-called“dragon bones”were the shells of tortoises，or occasionally the scapula of cattle，on which diviners had written questions directed to the gods，these precious objects became known as“oracle bones”and there was a great rush to find more inscribed specimens and translate their inscriptions into modern Chinese.

For centuries Chinese scholarship had concentrated on subtle analysis of ancient texts；thus a number of specialists were eager to learn the questions asked on the oracle bones so that they could speculate about the possible answers．Proper interpretation of these inscriptions required that the bones be discovered in association with the total archaeological record of ancient sites by qualified scholars．This raised a serious problem because the Chinese scholar's proper domain was his study and to engage in manual labor was considered an activity unworthy of his learning．The social and physical adjustments necessary to make the Anyang expedition a possibility demanded a revolution in Chinese society as well as in scholarship．Fortunately China was ready for such a revolution for there was a new atmosphere of social and intellectual change without which the investigation at Anyang would not have been possible．Thus the Anyang project was born of social revolution and was to its very end dependent on the ever-changing political situation.

Dr．Li，the key figure throughout the Anyang adventure，was well prepared for this heroic task．Having acquired a classical Chinese education，Dr．Li went to Harvard where he earned his Ph.D．in archaeology.^[1] Meanwhile，foreign archaeologists had been very active in China but their energies were directed mainly toward the discovery of early man and the study of Chinese culture from the paleolithic through the neolithic periods．On returning to China，Dr．Li became acquainted with these eminent foreign scholars who were already busily at work unraveling the record of China's past．Although Dr．Li's earliest field work was also in search of neolithic materials，he soon became involved in the activities of the Academia Sinica's Institute of History and Philology which took a characteristically Chinese approach，that is，the search for，and the decipherment of，the early written records of China.

From the beginning the task of the Institute of History and Philology was the blending of Chinese literary scholarship with the careful field methods of archaeology．The institute chose wisely when they selected Dr．Li to lead the Anyang excavation，for he was trained in both techniques．This was the proper combination to investigate the still-legendary early Bronze Age of China and place it in its proper perspective within the realm of Chinese written history．Today Dr．Li is the person best qualified to record the events that led up to the Anyang excavation，describe the work at Anyang，and finally summarize the knowledge obtained by a team of scholars from the wealth of material recovered from the“Waste of Yin，”in the general area of Anyang.

In the first two chapters，Dr．Li sets the stage by introducing us to the principle characters involved in first part of this modern archaeological drama，explaining in considerable detail the role of each from the first recognition that“dragon bones”used in Chinese medicine were actually documents that would illuminate the early Bronze Age and bring the Shang dynasty into the realm of written history.

In the third and fourth chapters Dr．Li explains the situation in Chinese archaeology during the early years of the twentieth century and describes the contributions of the prominent foreigners．This leads into the planning of the Anyang expedition，the troubles of financing the work，the early association with the Freer Gallery，and the ultimate divergence between the Gallery and the Institute.

With the fifth chapter he begins the narrative of the excavations and describes the principal finds．The work at Anyang is traced year by year until all work in the field was brought to a halt in 1937 by the Japanese invasion．The succeeding chapters deal with the flight of the Institute of History and Philology before the advancing armies of the Japanese．They made the long，difficult trip to west China with their precious excavated material and such parts of their library and technical apparatus as could be moved at that time．Even in west China they were not able to establish a permanent base，for they had to move again with the tide of war．These seemingly insurmountable difficulties did not dampen the general enthusiasm for research because，as soon as the institute set up a temporary base，they resumed their analysis of the material and even succeeded in publishing some preliminary results．With the end of World War II the institute returned to its original quarters in east China，but，while the end of World War II brought peace to much of the world，it did not bring peace to China．The revolution，intellectual and physical，that had made Anyang possible continued to escalate，and so the institute was soon…in Taiwan where a new base was set up，new recruits were gathered，and work was resumed.

The final chapters present a summary of the findings of the Anyang expedition with a description of some of the major publications that have come out of this monumental project．From the very beginning the Anyang project，like all archaeology in China，was closely related to politics and the political situation．It is very much to the credit of Dr．Li that he has never permitted political considerations either to permanently halt the project，or to color his findings as a scholar．As the pioneer Bronze Age excavation in China，Anyang has served as a model and inspiration to those who have continued Chinese archaeological exploration.

MILLARD B．ROGERS

School of Art

University of Washington